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Socceroos To Play New Zealand In June

Football Federation Australia today confirmed that the Socceroos will play New Zealand on June 9 in London as part of the team's preparation for the FIFA Confederations Cup in Germany later in the month.

Football Federation Australia today confirmed that the Socceroos will play New Zealand on June 9 in London as part of the team's preparation for the FIFA Confederations Cup in Germany later in the month.

The historic match will be the first between the two nations since last year's World Cup qualifying match in Adelaide won 1-0 by Australia.

"This match is vital preparation for us a week before the commencement of the FIFA Confederations Cup in Germany," said Football Federation Australia Chief Executive John O-Neill.
"New Zealand is a traditional sporting rival of ours dating back to our first meeting in 1922 and matches between our two national teams are always highly competitive. Playing the game in London will allow the many Australians and New Zealanders living in Europe the chance to see their national teams in action."
Confirmation of the match has also been welcomed by New Zealand Soccer Chief Executive Graham Seatter.

“While ideally we would be playing at home, matches in Europe make sense from a financial and a logistical point of view. The majority of our players are there so travel demands are reduced as is time away from clubs and clearly it is a considerable saving to our organisation. Our dialogue with Australia has been frank and positive and I would expect this to be the first of many such opportunities.”
The Socceroos have been drawn against Germany (15 June, Frankfurt), Argentina (18 June, Nuremberg) and Tunisia (21 June, Leipzig) in Group A at the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup.

Prior to the match against New Zealand the Socceroos will play against Iraq on March 26 at Sydney's Telstra Stadium, to be followed three days later by a match against Indonesia in Perth with proceeds going towards victims of the Tsunami disaster.